Sent out of sight, somewhere becoming rain. “I set the poem up and read it, and when I reached that celebrated end, “A sense of falling, like an arrow shower/Sent out of sight, somewhere becoming rain,” Christopher murmured from his bed, “That’s so dark, so horribly dark.” I disagreed, and not out of any wish to lighten his mood. It’s a perfect example of the “almost instinct” Larkin managed to … How does Philip Larkin convey sensory experience through specific detail? Find all the sights (and mistaken sights), sounds, and smells. Somewhere Becoming Rain gathers all of James’s writing on this towering literary figure of the twentieth century, together with extra material now published for the first time. Somewhere Becoming Rain brings together pieces from 1973 to 2018. In Somewhere Becoming Rain, Clive James’s collected essays on the poetry of Philip Larkin, the brilliance of James’s analysis, his clear-sighted view of Larkin’s solitude and humanity, and the fragile friendship between the two recorded in the book’s final pages, provide a monument to human connection and isolation together. Gather a few sense observations on your own route somewhere. The free tracks you can enjoy in the Poetry Archive are a selection of a poet’s work. Somewhere, the poem says, an arrow-shower is becoming rain; if love is turning somewhere to disappointment, the arrows of war are changing somewhere into a source of life. If you have 2009’s Reliable Essays… Where the fact of the rain is mundane, even all too routine, the transformation is startling, even magical. Aside from an introduction and coda, they’ve all appeared in print before. Larkin’s account of his early development “conjures up a young mind in which Hardy drives out Yeats”. The greatness of Larkin’s poetry continues to be obscured by the opprobrium attaching to … Somewhere Becoming Rain by Clive James review — fan letters to Philip Larkin Philip Collins enjoys a collection of witty essays by a great critic about a great poet Philip Collins The greatness of Larkin’s poetry continues to be obscured by the opprobrium attaching to his personal life and his private opinions. The poem is packed with a number of different sensory experiences.

Try building a poem around them. Somewhere Becoming Rain: Collected Writings on Philip Larkin By Clive James Picador, £12.99 James’s exact ear bypasses accepted opinion, even when it is promoted by Larkin himself. From The Collected Poems (Faber, 1993), by permission of the publisher, Faber & Faber Ltd. Recording used by permission of Mr. John Weeks. Somewhere Becoming Rain gathers all of James’s writing on this towering literary figure of the twentieth century, together with extra material now published for the first time.